UK: The Institution of Civil Engineers has published a report setting out lessons it says need to be learned from the decision to cancel the northern phases of the High Speed 2 project.
The cancellation of HS2 Northern’s leg — learning lessons draws on interviews and written submissions from key decision-makers involved throughout High Speed 2’s life cycle. ICE says many of the lessons are applicable to infrastructure projects of any type.
Key lessons include:
1 Intended outcomes must be clear, and the benefits of projects must be clearly defined and communicated so there is clarity and consistency for politicians and decision-makers, media and the public. In the case of HS2, the lack of clear transport objectives meant the strategic need was not clear.
2 It must be clear who is in charge, how decisions are made and who makes them and when. Corporate governance and technical understanding in sponsoring government departments should be improved. In the case of HS2, steps should have been taken to protect institutional memory as the project progressed and people moved on to other roles.
3 Large-scale infrastructure projects must spend more time in development. Contracts need to be based on mature designs, not concepts, and sufficient time is needed to assess different options and best-practice approaches. In the case of HS2, a standardised design could have been used for things like bridges, which would have helped to keep costs down, but this was not clearly agreed in the development process.
‘The cancellation of HS2’s northern leg exemplifies how impossible it is to separate major infrastructure projects from politics’, said Jonathan Spruce, ICE Trustee for Policy & External Affairs, when the report was published on September 12. ’To succeed and deliver desired outcomes, projects like HS2 require commitment that spans parties and political cycles.
‘The number one lesson is that governments need to think long-term, select and prioritise projects based on strategic needs, and follow through. Getting it right improves people’s lives.’
